Whip-button



(No Model.)

0., ,E. WILLIAMS.

I WHIP BUTTON. No. 361,034. Patented Apr. 12, 1887.

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UNITED STATES PATENT 0FFICE..'

CHARLES E. WILLIAMS, OF WESTFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

WHIP-BUTTON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 361,034, dated April12, 1887.

Application filed October 30, 1886. Serial N 0. 217,550. (No modem To,all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. WILLIAMs, a citizen of the United States,residing at Westfield, in the county of Hampden and Commonwealth ofMassachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement'inWhip-Buttons, of which the followingis a specification, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, forming part thereof.

My invention relates to the ornamental rings or buttons placed upon thestock of a whip, outside of the woven or other covering thereof. Atleasttwo, usually three, and sometimes four and five of these buttons areplaced upon driving-whips, the number being varied to suit the severalstyles and grades of whips. One is placed at the end of the butt,usually covering the tubular portion of the cap, another at the forwardend of the handle, usually another at about one-fourth of the distancefrom the handle to the tip, and sometimes others located at suitabledistances apart between the lastmentioned and the tip.

So far as I am aware, these buttons have heretofore been made accordingto one or the other of the following methods, to wit: by cementing theends of three or more strands of thread to the stock and then windingsaid strandsaround the stock until a mold of the desired shape and sizeis formed, after which 7 the button is formed by braiding a strand ofthreads upon said mold, by turning from wood a tubular mold adapted tobe placed upon the stock, and then braiding a textile or other coveringaround the mold, which latter is now usually done by machinery, bystamping or rolling the button from metal, or by stamping it fromleather, and afterward, by means of a lathe or otherwise, turning itsperiphery to the desired configuration. The thread button, that made bythe first-mentioned method, has been practically superseded by thewooden, metallic, and leather buttons, because of the great expenseinvolved in hand-braiding each whip. The use of either of .these threekinds of buttons, however, makes it necessary for the manufacturer tokeep in stock an immense variety of different sizes of each style ofbutton, for the reason that they must be located at exactly definedpoints upon the whip, which has a constantly varying diameter, and mustfit closely when so located, and because it is found that however muchcare be exercised in their manufacture no two whips are exactly equal indiameter at any given point, so that abutton of the proper size to fitone whip at a certain point will not fit another at the same point. Theworkman therefore is obliged to try one button after another until hefinds one which exactly fits the whip at the desired point, oftenconsuming much time in such search. This fact adds materially to thecost of making the whip, besides, as above stated, compelllng themanufacturer to keep constantly on hand a great variety of sizes of eachstyle of button, and the result has been that old and oftentimesunsightly styles of buttons have been adhered to by the manufacturers inspite of a demand bytheir customers for something new andpleasing,because of the great expense involved in providing a requisitesupply of various sizes of a new button. A button has also been devisedconsisting of a metallic ferrule encircled by a ring of any suitablerigid and solid material-such as bone, ivory, celluloid, &c., theperiphery of the ferrule being spun into a fillet -or annulet upon eachside of the ring; but this button is open to the same objection as thoseabove noted, for the metallic ferrule, having a fixed diameter, cannotadjust itself to nn= equal diameters of the whips any. more than thewooden or wholly metallic buttons above described.

The object of my invention is to provide a whip-button which willaccurately fit every whip at any point thereon, thus doing away with thenecessity of keeping on hand many different sizes of buttons, which, atthe same time, permits the change from one style of ornamentation toanother, by means of interchangeable parts, at little or no increasedexpenso, and which can be manufactured at a trifling cost as comparedwith the buttons now in use.

To these ends my invention consists of a whipbutton having an interiorbushing or lining of soft rubber, whereby, in consequence of theelasticity of the rubber, the button closely embraces a whip-stockwherever placed thereon.

My invention consists, further, of a whipbutton composed of an elasticbushing or linmg having one or more depressions within its exteriorsurface, and a metallic or other band or bands mounted upon said bushingwithin the depressions.

My invention consists, 'also, of a whip-button composed of a soft-rubberbushing or lining and a series of interchangeable ornamental metallic orother bands, each of which is adapted to be mounted upon said bushing.

Referring to the drawings, in which like letters designate like parts inthe several figures, Flgure 1 is a diagrammatic view, showing in sideelevation the soft-rubber bushing or lining and the band separately, andalso as combined to form the complete button. Fig. 2 is a centrallongitudinal section of a button having one band similar to that shownin Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a similar view of an elongated button having twobands. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of a whip-stock having three ofmy improved buttons applied thereto, showmg the manner in which theelastic bushing or lining serves to securely retain the button at anypoint on the whip regardless of its varying diameter.

The letter A designates a soft-rubber core or tube,- whieh constitutesthe bushing or linmg of the button. In its preferred form this tube willterminate at its ends in peripheral beads e, as shown, thus forming anannular depression between the beads, and can best be made by thewell-known process of molding soft rubber.

B designates .the Ornamental band, which may be made from any suitablemetallic substance or from vulcanized rubber, horn, bone, ivory,celluloid, &c., by stamping, rolling, molding, turning, or other usualprocess. It should be of a proper width and diameter to snugly fit theannular depression in the rubber tube, as shown. I prefer to use ametallic band eoncavo-convex in cross-section, as shown in the drawings,such form having special advantages, which will be hereinafter setforth. The tube is inserted within the band, as indicated by the dottedlines in Fig. l, by compressing one end thereof and slipping the bandthereover, when the elasticity of the tube causes it to resume itsnormal shape and to securely retain the band thereon.

The button is now ready to be applied to the whip, and the normaldiameter of its bore should be such that after inserting the tip of thewhip therein the button may be freely moved toward the butt to the pointwhere the first button is to be loeatedas, for instance, the pointmarked 1 in Fig. 4. At this point the button is securely held in placeby a very slight compression of the clastic bushing between thewhip-stock D and the band B. Owing to the elasticity of the soft rubber,however, the same button can be moved to the point2 and to the point 3,where it may cover the tubular portion of the cap E, like the ordinaryleather button now in use. It will be observed by reference to Fig. atthat as the button is advanced toward the whip-butt the increasingdiameter of the whip compresses the bushing more and more, and thus moreand more firmly secures the button in place. It will be observed,further, that one size of button thus constructed serves a purpose whichhas heretofore required three or more different sizes, and, moreover,that inequalities in the size of individual Whips, which have heretoforenecessitated a search for the proper button, have no effect upon abutton made according to my invention.

As above stated, I prefer to make the band B concave-convex incross-section, and for the reason that space is thereby provided withinthe band for the expansion of the rubber, thus permitting a thickerbushing to be used and making a more compact and durable structure. Theoperation of such a band with the bushing is clearly shown in Fig. 4.

Making the band and elastic bushing as separate and interchangeableparts constitutes an important feature of my invention, inasmuch as itenables the manufacturer to vary at will the ornamentation of thebuttons on the various grades of whips at the slight expense ofproducing a new style of band. Again, by making the rubber bushing indifferent colors he is enabled to arrange new combinations of band andbushing from the stock in hand,

and thus introduce new styles of whips at no' additional cost, this factbeing particularly true of the form of button shown in Fig. 3, where anelongated bushing with two bands, which may be of contrasting materialsor ornamentation, is illustrated. Moreover, the bushing can be used verysuccessfully with the metallic, wooden, and leather buttons now in use,the latter serving as the band, and thus obviate the objections incidentto such buttons at present, as above pointed out.

The annular beads a may be omitted altogether, or the bushing may beprovided with additional beads or other exterior ornamentation, and thewidth and configuration of the band may be varied from that shownwithout departing from the spirit of my invention.

The buttons, when placed in position upon the whip, may be additionallysecured thereto by the use of cement, if desired.

I claim- 1. Awhip-button composed of a soft-rubber tube having upon itsperiphery a non-elastic band, substantially as set forth.

2. Awhip-button consisting of asoft-rubber tube having its periphery ofless diameter in the center than at the ends, and a band concave-convexin cross-seotion, the inner diameter of which is that of the center ofthe tube, substantially as set forth.

3. Awhip-button consisting of asoft-rubber tube having upon itsperiphery one or more annular beads, whereby the portion of saidperiphery between said beads is depressed below their level, and aseries of interchangeable ICC non-elastic bands, the inner diameter ofeach closing said bushing between said beads, subof which isapproximately that of the periphstantially as shown and described. eryof the tube between the beads, substantially as and for the purposedescribed. CHARLES WILLI 5 a 4. Awhip-button consisting of the soft-rub-I Witnesses:

ber bushing A, having the annular beads e at W. H. CHAPMAN, its ends,and the eoncavo-convex band B, in- E. L. YARRINGTON.

